Shinobi Through The Ages
by JuzTrae
Summary: A fanfiction challenge set by Re4lDeaL. Completely new world of Naruto. Umi Kotimaru finds himself enthralled by times past, and disgusted by current ways, so he strives to overcome his affliction and combine the 2 into something all his own. Currently undergoing reboot.
1. Chapter 1

Shinobi Through The Ages

From the start of it all, the times of the Chakra tree, to the end of wars, The times of Nindo. One thing has been prevalent, it's of course a fundamental part of what all shinobi despise. Through it all we've managed to Survive, through trickery, underhandedness, deals, honor, any thing you can think of we've utitlized to push our way of the Shinobi Life forward. We've torn down and replaced legends from all different lands and villages and now? We start anew once more. So many tentative times of peace have fallen upon us but this may be the one, the one that sticks. This is the Main 5.

The 5 villages still remain: Stone, Sand, Mist, Leaf, Cloud all stand while the minor villages have dwindled out, forced to be cut away in our efforts to stay on the Shinobi path. But enough of the backstory. Our tale takes place in the land of lightning, cloud village to be exact, and it all starts with a little boy named Umi. 

Umi is a dark skinned, white haired, average built 5 year old child. He has styled his hair after his favorite legend, Darui. Today is the day his journey begins, what it holds? Secret, so read and see.


	2. Chapter 2

Shinobi Through The Ages

Umi wakes up to his cracked ceiling once again today. 'Sigh' "This is so repetitive" he complains as he gets out of bed and begins searching for clothes. He puts on his attire, a long-sleeved black shirt with an even darker symbol of Lightning, he slides on the standard ninja pants and straps his kunai pack to his leg. Umi chuckles as he remembers how he actually got these Kunai.

****FlashBack****

The blacksmith chasing him quickly gets frustrated and lets out his rage screaming, "UMI KOTIMARU". Umi is hiding behind a dumpster next to the weapons shop he just robbed. "jeez all I had to do was walk in and walk out with this? who knew this would be so easy" muttering to himself as he hops the gate behind him and runs off.

Umi however, didn't know his target was in fact a ninja..he found out the hard way.

As he continues running through alleys he notices a shower leaping from building to building gaining on him, Umi stops and looks back only to turn his face directly into a kick from the blacksmith. He's thrown backwards and hits a houses wall, scared now he tries to run only to meet the same result. The blacksmith shows himself and smiles at him sinisterly "You got some fucking nerve trying to rob me kid, especially a useless little thing like you"

Umi shirks at the reminder of his condition and glares at the man defiantly "Well this useless little thing just stole from your store and got away, what's that make you?" The blacksmith laughs at him "It makes me generous mutt, now I'm going to leave" he punches Umi hard enough to break a rib "And you're going to remember I could've killed you but I didn't, simply because I don't feel like it, oh and my name's Crow by the way remember it for your nightmares" Crow walks off as Umi clutches his stomach hoping he isn't bleeding internally.

****FlashBack End****

Umi grunts at the reminder of his special illness and shrugs it off. Leaving his room and his house he quickly slips into a back alley that leads to his "training ground". He comes to an empty smaller version of a roundabout, there are targets and makeshit dummies set up all around showing signs of extreme use and deteoriation. Kotimaru begins throwing kunai with deadly accuracy at the dummies, aiming for what would be a humans Neck, wrists, and ankles. Throwing 10/10 he moves on to practicing his Kata on brick walls as to increase his pain tolerance, he hopes he doesn't break a hand this time around though.

Umi always wanted to be a ninja, but his condition holds him back, or so he was told. He ignored these warnings and trained himself to the maximum even at the age of 6. Because life isn't quite so kind to him as it is nearly anyone else, he trains because he must, becaue if he doesn't he probably wouldn't have survived so long.

He only speeds his Kata up thinking about his living circumstances and punches harder until he hears the telltale breaking of bones. Yelling in pain he stops and holds his right hand up, waiting for his disease to kick in. You see Umi Kotimaru is a lot like the legend of Rock Lee, however at the same time it's so very different. His hand begins healing painlessly and he watches the bones knit together under his skin, a light shimmering blue surrounding his hand.

Umi is unable to access any chakra in his body, not because it isn't there, and not due to his inability either. All chakra in his core is diverted to his healing processes, he's tried to slit his neck and wrists several times out of desperation, yet his healing has never failed to repair the damage within seconds.

Umi stares at the hand balefully then returns to his training. A blur seemingly flickers away from the shadows unnoticed by the training grounds occupant.


	3. Chapter 3

Shinobi Through The Ages

 **Huge thank you to my friend Kate aka Kitkat aka Blondie aka HorrorMovieStandIn for the help in brainstorming for this chapter, some of you may or may not have notice this is mostly a freewrite story, I haven't planned a plot or any story line so some good ideas on how you think this should go would be appreciated. Might not be used, but ideas sharpen ideas so it's all helpful.**

****2 Years Ago, Umi: Age 4****

3 adult men occupy a small table in an unused room within the Raikage Tower. The man seated at the head of the table is Munai Chinoike (age 43) and head of the Chinoike clan, wielders of the ketsuyagan, to his left is Hitaro Osami (age 23) and to his right is the rather informally seated A(he wouldn't like me disclosing his age), Raikage of Cloud Village. A was feeling particularly uncomfortable in this clanedstine meeting. Firstly, as Raikage he'd always been at the head of any table and in control of any situation, secondly the agenda of this meeting disturbed him deeply and he had very mixed feelings regarding it.

The "Agenda" of the gathering happened to be seated in the corner upon a toy wooden rocker horse blissfuly unaware of the proceedings, or so they believed. But on with the dialogue.

"As unpleasant as it makes me feel we must decide what to do with this...thing as soon as possible, my clan shall not be slandered because of it." Rumbled Munai, his voice quivering with anger.

Hitaro responded swiftly, hoping to cut off too much negativity before A made a rash decision. "I would remind you that the "thing" you refer to is a CHILD Munai and it would be prudent for you to remember that regardless of his disappointing potential as a shinobi he is a fully functioning human!" Slamming his palm upon the table to cement his pont.

Not to be overruled A spoke up "Enough. The final decision is and always will be Mine, especially in regards to this child. He cannot use chakra, and he seems to have a weak constitution, it is true that he'll never be a shinobi. It is also true that such a shameful fact can't be associated with me or the Chinoike clan, however killing the child is an extreme I refuse to consider."

Munai scoffed "It seems you are quite bias in this case Raikage-Dono" you could hear his sneer as he used the honorific.

The subject of conversation continued rocking on his creepy little wooden horse. Luckily he was facing away from the gazes of the adults, or they would see his tears. Tears of saddness and rage, but also determination to prove them wrong. You see along with his healing factor, his chakra is also directed to his brain. While this doesn't make him some kind of super genius...he's definitely sharper than an average 3 yr old. Of course no one had bothered finding out just what happened to his chakra, all that mattered was that he couldn't use it the way they wanted.

The Raikage sighed deeply before answering "I will ignore that disrespect ONCE Munai, however do it again and you will find out exactly why I was chosen to take up the mantle of A and Raikage" glaring at the man he continues with palpable regret in his voice. "We will strip the boy of his heritage, his family, and any help, we cannot let him be known or connected to us. He will NOT be harmed by any shinobi for anything less than a crime of such magnitude am I understood?"

Munai Nodded reluctantly, along with Hitaro, both quite displeased for entirely different reasons. Munai thought it best to kill the boy to eliminate any chance of a scandal, while Hitaro believed there was nothing wrong in the first place.

Umi's eyes widened as he realized his fate was sealed, or rather, a certain door was locked. Later that night however, he understood that it just meant another was unlocked.

****Present Time Umi: Age 6****

Umi sighs as he remembers that night but shakes it off gruffly. Looking ahead as he walks through town he stays in the shadows and the middle of crowds trying to avoid being seen by any policing shinobi. He doesn't remember much about his childhood besides that night, however Umi has always been targetted by the red Ketsuyagan eyes of the Police Shinobi for as long as he could recall.

Coming to a halt across the street from a large park he stares into it. Children playing Ninja and using the swings catch his eye, however his gaze is drawn to a small group consisting of 2 girls and a boy. He doesn't know their names but he knows their personalities, funny how much you learn about people just from a bit of light stalking. Umi smirks to himself realizing that for once that the police might be justified in targetting him.

He stares as they play simple games such as tag, they're his age, he wonders why they don't train like he does. Umi doesn't fault them for it, having a carefree life isn't something to be begrudged. Umi almost runs to help when one of the girls falls over and scrapes her knee, however it isn't his common sense that stops him. A hand places itself on his shoulder and he hears his name from a familiar voice.

"Kotimaru, you are not an easy kid to find you know that right?" it's Hitaro his mysterious surrogate caretaker. Umi never could figure out why Hitaro ever helped him, he doesn't remember the names or features of anyone from that room those 2 years ago.

Umi chuckles a little as he responds "Well duh, that's sorta the point ya old bat, what do you want?" One thing Umi noticed is that Hitaro _never_ showed up unless something was happening, good or bad.

Hitaro laughs as well and concedes his point "True enough, anyways I've got something you'll like arranged" he tries for a dramatic pause but sweatdrops at Umi's uninterested face. "Well fine be that way, I didn't have to go out of my way to register you for the academy"

"Go out of my way" is more than a little underwhelming version of what Osami had to do to get Umi into the academy. Let's just say it involved a banana, a paper clip, some chicken blood, and ALOT of blackmail.

It took Umi a little while to understand what Hitaro said, then he broke into a huge grin "Really?! I thought I'd never be allowed because of my sickness" it usually dimmed his mood a bit to bring it up but he was too happy to care.

Hitaro smiled, Umi's was just too infectious "Like I said, I went out of my way a bit" he smiled a bit wider remembering exactly how he used that paper clip.

Umi's yell of excitement had garnered the attention of the 3 children he had been "lightly stalking" and they wandered over..

 **CliffHanger**

 **sorry but it had to be done :3**

 **Let me know if anyone wants to find out exactly HOW he used a Banana, a paper clip, some chicken blood, and ALOT of blackmail to get Umi into the academy.**


	4. Chapter 4

Shinobi Through The Ages

 **Got some private messages requesting the explanation of how Hitaro used a banana, paper clip, chicken blood, and alot of blackmail to get Umi into academy :3 Find out a the end of this chapter.**

Shija Naka, Konan Yokan, and Alison James. These 3 had been friends since birth, their families shared a similar bond as the Nara-Akimichi-Yamanaka clans with much less fame of course. Shija Naka, slightly shorter than average, black hair messy (much like obito's hair) a mixed complexion skin tone, wearing dark green shorts and a grey shirt.

Shija looked up as he noticed the kid who'd been looking at them suddenly show the most emotion he'd seen from him in the time he'd been watching Shija and his friends. Grunting a bit to get the girls attention he nods in the kids direction and drawls lazily "our shadow looks happy and I don't like it, troublesome enough to warrant checking"

Konan Yokan laughs at him. She's a dark blue haired girl, the tallest of all 3, she has dark skin similar to Umi's, she wears glasses and her hair is a hime cut, she wears mixed grey and white long sleeve shirts and pants. "You're so fake Shija you just want a chance to ask him how he watched us so long without you noticing"

Alison James simply looked over and kept her face impassive choosing not to respond. She is of average height, blonde haired and tan skinned, her family is foreign obviously and her hair follows that trend as she puts it up in a pony tail. Alison ignored their sidechat and left them behind as she started walking toward Umi and Hitaro, the others quickly followed.

Hitaro noticed the 3 approaching and wondered if Umi had stumbled upon some friends at last. 'These would be the first' he thought smirking slightly.

"Pencils, paper, notebooks, new clothes, gear, backpack" Umi was verbally listing everything he'd need to stea- obtain legally for his new role at the academy.

Alison and Shija stood behind Umi with Konan next to him, she reached to tap his shoulder and gain his attention. Upon feeling her hand he grabbed it and yanked her forward twisting his shoulder under her arm and causing Konan to flip onto the ground faceup as he crouched over her. All traces of his earlier excitement gone he stared at her coldly as if waiting for an explanation.

During the attack- retaliation- ..altercation Alison and Shija had stepped to either side of Umi and had attempted to grab him before Hitaro picked them up by the scruffs of their shirts. "Let go of me you awkwardly strong weirdo" grumbled Shija, Alison quickly followed suit "You're clearly a pedophile in this situation I'll scream!" He smiled with both his mouth and eyes (^-^) as they struggled and slung curses his way.

Ignoring all 3 of them Umi was in full panic mode, he'd just judo flipped one of the kids he'd been wanting to be friends with and had no idea what to do next. 'What if they hate me now?' 'Oh god is she hurt?' 'Shit shit the blonde one looks pissed' The thoughts swirled around his head as he held the blue haired girl down out of instinct.

Konan had been extremely surprised to find herself on her back with the wind knocked out of her after she'd tapped the boys shoulder, and at first his cold stare had scared her. However the longer she looked the more she noticed he seemed to be extremely nervous rather than angry and she decided to try to calm everyone down. Konan smiled widely up at Umi "umm I didn't think this through at all can I try again?"

Shija and Alison stopped struggling and stared at their friend with the generic "What the fuck" face, Hitaro let them go and watched Umi to see how he'd handle it. This is the longest interaction he'd ever had with kids his age before after all.

Umi was shell shocked, nodding dumbly he got off of her and offered his hand to help her up. Konan took it and thanked him quickly. Umi shook his head firmly as if to clear it and made his decision. "Hey, don't go sneaking up on trained shinobi next time kid you'll actually get hurt" Umi said coldly looking at Konan.

Shija walked over to Konan and made sure she was okay before scowling at Umi "You call attacking an innocent kid "trained" I guess killing her would be mastered huh?"

Konan cringed a little and tried to defuse the situation "It's okay he was just warning me not to surprise people"

Alison was annoyed with all of them seeing the chance of making a new friend fall "Konan let's go, these 2 are clearly having a macho moment, not to mention that jerk might've made you bruise"

Umi continued glaring at the 3 of them until Konan and Alison left, at which point Shija clicked his tongue and turned away "if this is how you treat people then no wonder everyone hates you" he says out of pure spite.

On the outside Umi was unphased by all of this and walked off just as quickly, he was refusing to regret his decision knowing he'd made the right one. The moment those 3 had come over he'd immediately realized his dream of having friends was too far-fetched. They were too normal, their whole body language screamed innocence. However it was the girl that sealed it, she forgave him too easily, he realized he would never be quite as normal as them and decided to push them away.

Hitaro having expected this simply sighed and silently cursed the Raikage and the Ketsuyagan leader. He hoped Umi would only be mentally hurting himself this time.

**** **Omake******

Hitaro cackled evily as he looked at the headmaster of the villages shinobi academy. was tied to his chair, however this was the most normal and least problematic condition of his situation. He was pressing all of his weight towards his left causing the chair to lean that direction slightly because under his chairs left hind leg was a banana. Were this banana crushed it would cause the paper clip next to it to fall over, doesn't seem horrible.

But...THE PAPER CLIP WAS BALANCED SO PERFECTLY, that it was steadying a string, which lead to the handle of a bucket of chicken blood placed directly over his wife who was also tied up in the corner.

Once again...doesn't seem too bad, what would chicken blood do anyway? :D

His wife is allergic to chickens, throughout her childhood no one could figure it out, even chicken grease from rice cooked in a pan also used for chicken would cause her lungs to collapse and her breathing to restrict severely.

Hitaro smiled into face as he pleaded for his wifes life. "All you have to do is accept the child , is it really that hard?"

-wright shook his head vehemently "I'd rather die than betray my Kage's orders"

Hitaro shrugged and moved to the left side of , placing his hands on his shoulder. "On the count of 5 I'm going to push you and squash that banana"

screamed in fear and finally cracked, agreeing to Hitaro's terms he signed the papers for Umi's acceptance.

However before he left Hitaro said one last thing. "I know your son is allergic to chocolate :)"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 **So uh, yea…that poor guy's going to live in fear for a very long time. Lol imagine his son feeling suffocated because the dad never knows when Hitaro might strike. Hey everyone, back at last. Took a hiatus due to college and work but I'm back and I'm going to put some work into this again. Hopefully you enjoy this chapter.**

We happen upon Umi doing what he does best besides pissing people off and intermediate stalking and being stone faced and hiding and healing. Ok fine he's stealing. That little list he thought of before being rudely interrupted had to get completed somehow.

Umi crouches behind a crate full of ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise. At least that's what he thinks a condom meant. (knee slap + wink) "So how am I going to rob this place" Umi ponders aloud as he cases out a shinobi outfitter shop. The reason he feels no shame or guilt in robbing these people is because A. he's just kinda mean like that and B. they've refused his legal patronage many times before. Umi notices an open window on the second floor and begins to formulate a plan.

****5 Minutes later****

"mwawhahwahuwhuahdeahuaheauahaha..ha" Umi laughs rather obnoxiously as he prepares to leap from the building across the crowded street directly into the open second floor window. As Umi runs he thinks to himself the consequences of missing that 2x2 gap in solid wood. However, he quickly throws away any second thoughts as he jumps into the air, twisting and turning to get his body oriented toward the window. The hair covering his left eye is parted by the wind and the glint of intelligence and maybe even a tinge of iridescent color can be seen…by only the oddly placed bird.

Landing in a well-executed somersault inside the shop Umi looks around quickly before dashing behind a rack of clothing.

"Honestly, why would a shinobi shop have such bad security…and layout this place looks like a JC Penny's" Snarks Umi, who briefly wonders what the hell JC Penny's is.

Looking around anxiously under the guise of being calm and collected Umi searches for a new kit of kunai and shuriken, clothing, and maybe if he's lucky he'll even stumble upon a pencil.

Amidst his exploring he failed to notice the quiet footsteps of todays shopkeeper, the daughter of the owner. A tall dark blue hared girl with a hime cut. A girl Umi immediately recognized when she gently tapped his shoulder after spotting him snatching a pair of Vans- Canvas shoes.

"Konan Yokan, what an unpleasant surprise" Umi cringed inwardly as he spoke. 'I seriously cannot just admit I was stealing I'll look poor and unpopular, besides what's she doing here'.

"Ah Umi! I thought that was you, are you going to buy those shoes? If so let me recommend a different color first" Konan replied cheerfully. Skillfully ignoring him and addressing the nearly stolen item.

Umi's eye twitch was almost visible as he tried to conjure a way out of this situation. "What's someone like _you_ doing _here"_ 'If I piss her off enough, she'll either hit me and I can run or she'll run and then I can still run in a different direction'.

As these thoughts ran through Umi's hopeful little brain Konan had already decided she was going to learn SOMETHING about this kid.

"What's your name?"

For some reason, when those words graced Umi's ears he physically flinched. Throughout his years of stalking kids his age, this was the interaction he always witnessed and wished for. At the end of a day of playing the kid would ask another their name, become friends, and live happily ever after.

Of course, Umi's untrusting ass remembered Shika's words and flipped the abnormally tall girl off, then proceeded to backflip his way through the room and out the window.

Konan stood still in shock, her mother had told her that handsign was part of a complicated jutsu she was too young to learn, and it had a very forbidden use. 'Did he just backflip out of a 2-story building?' Running to the window Konan looks out and into the street only to find no trace of the boy.

Umi was breathing hard as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop hurrying toward his super not childish secret hide out. 'Who would've thought kids could be so cruel without even trying, ignorance really is bliss' He lands in his roundabout and starts emptying his pockets.

Pencils, notebooks, clothes, kunai and shuriken all check. Umi's eyes suddenly widen and he shouts out, loudly, in a living area, "SHIT". 'I forgot the shoes'

Hitaro was shocked awake by the curse and grumbled angrily as he leapt down from a window above the roundabout. "I see you've had a productive morning"

Umi, already annoyed, snarked "Ha, you're funny, like why even be a shinobi, you can be a jester and make Gaara laugh."

Hitaro smiled widely :) "I'm glad you're in a combative mood Umi, time for some refreshers since you're going to be attending academy soon."

Visibly shuddering Umi cringed away and fell on his backside. Frantically backing away, he looked up to see Hitaro pull out the dreaded notebook.

 **Oh god, notebook, not that. Anything but that. Okay maybe it's a littllleee of a cliff hanger but we know it's just training. Will be updating in a few days from now :D**


End file.
